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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
XP: Scandinavian Cruise
I'm hoping you all might be able to give me some recommendations or suggestions, as you were all helpful a few years ago when DH and I were heading to Paris. I've changed my username since then but anyway...we'll be leaving in 3 weeks for Copenhagen, where we'll be embarking on an 11-day Scandinavian cruise. We'll be hitting Oslo, Norway, Aarhus and Copenhagen, Denmark, Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Warnemunde, Germany, Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland. (A looong list and a lot of places to see in 11 days!) Are there any must see's you can recommend as we'll only have a day in each port, with the exception of St. Petersburg where we'll have an overnight? Things we shouldn't waste our time on? Must-purchase souvenirs?I appreciate anything you have to offer! Thanks so much!!
Re: XP: Scandinavian Cruise
In Oslo, the sights I most enjoyed visiting were Oslo Town Hall, Frogner Park, the Viking Ship Museum, and the Norwegian Folk Museum. Both the Viking Ship Museum and the Folk Museum are located on Bygdoy Peninsula, which you have to take a small ferry ride to get to.
I also visited the Akershus Fortress & Norwegian Resistance Museum, Kon-Tiki Museum, and the National Museum of Art. The Royal Palace was closed during my visit so I didn't have an opportunity to see it.
Are you adding on extra time before or after your trip? My favorite part of the country was Western Norway (fjord country). If you have time I would highly recommend that you add in at least a night or two in Bergen so that you can explore the fjords.
OMG ... I am dying to do this cruise!!! This will be the next big one we do as we are doing the E. Med this September. Cannot wait to hear how it is!
Happy cruising!
We are going to Sicily, Athens, Ephasus, Crete with us coming in/out of Rome. We are so excited and let me tell you, the next 72 days will not go fast enought!!!
I've done five Northern Europe cruises so far, so I've hit a lot of those ports.
Oslo:
My typical rec on CruiseCritic is to buy an OsloPass from tourist info at the pier (if you're docking at Akerhuskaia or Filipstad), and then catch the Tram 12 (towards Majorstuen) in front of the R?dhus to Vigelands Park to see the sculptures. After the park, catch the 20 towards Sk?yen and switch to the 30 (towards Bygd?y) at Olav Kyrres plass. Get down at the Folk Museum for a visit (don't miss the wooden stave church), then walk around the corner to the Viking Ships. If you still have time/energy, catch the 30 on to Bygd?ynes to see the Fram Museum and the arctic exploration ship. Ride the ferry from the pier next to the museum back to the city hall. Also, plan to enjoy the scenery on the way in or out of port. It's about two hours' sailing to reach open water, so the trip into and out of Oslo can be very pretty.
Aarhus:
If you like modern art, ARoS is a great museum. Otherwise I've heard good things about Den Gamle By. It's about 15-20 minutes' walk to either from the piers.
Copenhagen:
I spent my cruise day in Copenhagen hanging out at Tivoli with fellow Nesties, since I'd been before. Tivoli is a fun place to wander around, but the thing that stands out most in my mind was the crown jewels at Rosenborg Castle. I was drooling over some of those necklace sets! There's so much to see in Copenhagen, that it really depends on your interests. The Little Mermaid is as anticlimactic as everyone says it is. I only went because my friend wanted to check it off their to-see list, and it really wasn't that exciting.
Tallinn:
It's an easy walk into the old town from the cruise piers, and the medieval walled city is fun to wander around. I'd look online and find a self-guided walking tour or just explore on your own. There are lots of little craft shops to peek in. Olde Hansa is uber-touristy, but I thought it was fun, and the food was surprisingly good (the house beers were not).
St.Petersburg:
Book a private tour. Either a private tour with your own guide or a group tour through a local company. They will get a group visa so you don't have to worry about that, and you'll get a better deal and better options than the ship's excursions. There are a million suggestions for companies on the CruiseCritic forum. Also, if your cruise has a roll call, you might be able to form a group to share the cost of a private guide. We ended up joining a group that was traveling together on our cruise. The highlights of our tour were a trip on the metro, the gardens at Peterhoff, the Hermitage, a boat ride on the canal, and the little local place she took us for lunch. We were there on the wrong day of the week to visit the Church on Spilled Blood, so we only got to see it from the outside.
Stockholm:
I've only visited Stockholm on a weekend trip, rather than as a cruise port, so I don't know where the ships dock. This is supposed to be another very pretty sail-in, unless you're on one of the (usually Holland America) ships that docks at Nyn?shamn instead of Stockholm itself. As for the sights, the Vasa Museum is kind of cool, but I think I had my expectations too high. If you're planning to visit Skansen, you can skip the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo (though if you have an Oslo Pass, you might stop in just to see the stave church), because Skansen is much bigger and more impressive. Wandering around Gamla Stan is nice for shopping of just taking it easy, but personally I think you can skip the palace. For something a little more modern or unique, I really enjoyed our visit to Fotografiska (and came home with a coffee table book of one of the photographer's collected works).
Wow! Thank you so much! I noticed that many places you mentioned are on our list as well. In St. Petersburg, we've booked our tours through an agency because we didn't want to deal with the visas. I'm also quite intimidated by this city for some reason.
I truly appreciate your suggestions...this is exactly what I was looking for!